LM3886 sound

[Bengali]

Hi,

I'm don't want to stir up any trouble. I'm just looking for input on the sound quality of the lm3886. Is it similiar to the LM3875?

I have 6ohms speakers so decided to go the 3886 route.
How does the 3886 chip amp compare to your off the shelf brand amps?

I ordered an Onkyo M-282 amp for $200.00. It would cost me about $250 to build a regulated 3886 chip amp(w/chassis) and have less power.

Do people build chip amps mainly as a hobby, learning experience or for the actual sound performance?

thanks for your comments.

[pwan]

How does the 3886 chip amp compare to your off the shelf brand amps?

LM chip is good campared with the cost --but depends on what amp you compare. Also highly depends on the speaker you are using as well.

I build many LM3875 & LM3886 both with staadard & premium compnents. To me, LM chip sound more clear and clean than many off-the-shelf amps under US$200 but I enjoy ESP's P101 and Leach amp more in my system.

Do people build chip amps mainly as a hobby, learning experience or for the actual sound performance?

First, for fun and experence and found it sound very good.

It would cost me about $250 to build a regulated 3886 chip amp(w/chassis) and have less power.

Try to build a naked standard one without chasis first using standard components ( to me, it cost only US$40 incl 180-250VA transformer). If you like its sound, buy the chasis for it.
Cheers,

[davidlzimmer]

I think most build the first one because they are easy to build. Then, like me, they build several more because their friends have to have one.

The sound is quite amazing. I don't care WHAT they are compared to, they sound very good.

As pwan said, build a bench model. (parts and a heat sink) You will not be disappointed with either chip. The LM3886 is more suitable to the 6 ohm speaker however.


Enjoy!

[Bengali]

wow, thanks for the friendly posts. I thought I was going to get killed on this forum asking subjective questions like that.

very cool, I will build one up as time/money permits and see how it sounds. so many have done it, it's got to be a good

[Nordic]

Don't be tricked straight off to buy the most expensive components, ge tcheapies, and then you can systematicaly do upgrades, and learn what if anything makes the biggest diffirence to you.

[Bengali]

great advise. should I even bother with a regulated supply or a snubber will suffice?

thanks.

[Nordic]

A bridge rectifier and 2 10000uf caps will be enough of a powersupply to get you going well.

[SoundWiz]

For the PSU, I'd recommend the same as was recommended for the amp earlier:

Start with the easy thing (e.g. snubber) and go on experimenting.
There are quite interesting designs on the web, and some prove to give better results, but it depends on what YOU want to get and what YOU want to invest. It's YOUR baby, so it's YOUR choice. Easy, huh? ;-)

[pwan]

Originally posted by Bengali
great advise. should I even bother with a regulated supply or a snubber will suffice?

thanks.

Just back to basis. One supply for stereo. Using one Bridge 400V/35V, 4,700 x 4 ( 2 per rail). Remember 0.1U per rail on chip. After spending lots of time, efforts & money for fancy things, I now found that this simple one sound good in most cases while very cost effective.

[davidlzimmer]

One word of caution.

Once you get the mock up going, it's very tempting to waist many hours listening to it!